


Very Very Frightening Me

by Merkwerkee



Category: Void Jumpers
Genre: Electrocution, Lightning Strike - Freeform, safety regulations are written in blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkwerkee/pseuds/Merkwerkee
Summary: Tag convinces one of the Lightning-attuned parallels-in-training to show him their new trick. It goes...poorly
Kudos: 2





	1. Thunder and Lightning

Tag bounced a little as he walked quickly through the familiar corridors of the Parallel Monastery.

It’d been his home for as long as he could remember, and he knew every nook and cranny like the back of his hand - much to the Old Guards’ displeasure when he decided he didn’t want them to find him. It didn’t happen often, but it always exasperated Toman when he hid and the faces he made while he lectured Tag about not doing it again were almost worth the trouble of doing it again - but only almost. Tag didn’t like to cause too much trouble, not when the Order Parallel had been so good to him.

Today, though, hiding was the last thing on Tag’s mind. Normally he wasn’t allowed to watch the parallels-to-be train with their elements, but Secundus had promised to show him the newest trick the older almost-parallel had picked up from one of the vids from the Lightning planet - Secundus’ home planet. Apparently, if you were clever enough, you could modulate the heat-frequency of lightning and make it play music! The thought made Tag wish, for just a moment, that he could control the lightning too - but he pushed the thought away. Toman always said he had more growing up to do when he asked about what magic he could do, even though Stephano always told him he didn’t have magic at all, and it was all very confusing.

Still, watching other people use magic was almost as cool as using magic himself, and he was very excited to see Secundus’ new trick. Tag picked up a little more speed into a sort of half-jog - there was no running in the corridors, they weren’t wide enough to accommodate more than two people across as if he ran that wouldn’t leave space for other people. According to Toman, anyway, and he always seemed to have the best answers to whatever questions popped into Tag’s head. Still, half-jogging wasn’t running and it got him to the Lightning practice room that much quicker.

Each element had their own specialized practice room in the monastery, designed specifically to contain any kind of magical accidents that happened inside of it. The Lightning room had a little bucket outside for people to leave anything metal they might be carrying, and a big copper rod stuck firmly into the solid stone of the floor. Tag hurriedly rifled his pockets, nearly hopping from foot to foot in his impatience as he made absolutely certain he hadn’t accidentally left a fork or something in one of his pockets. But the only things in there were a cool stone he’d found on the grounds and a small, equally interesting flower he’d found near it - he wanted to show them to Toman later, but they shouldn’t mess up any Lightning magic so he hurriedly shoved them back where he’d pulled them from and pushed the door open.

Secundus looked up from his lotus position on the floor and smiled when he saw Tag. “Tag! I’m glad you made it. Much longer, and I’d’ve had to start without you - I could only get the room to myself for so long on account of Blayze and Accalia wanting to practice their lightning spears today too.”

With a spry wiggle, Secundus unfolded himself from the floor and gestured to a corner of the room most notable for the heavy woven mat that rested on it. “You’ll have to stay in the observer’s corner - the bolts can get a little unpredictable when I modulate them.”

He looked very apologetic and Tag shook his head vigorously enough to flap his ears a little. “No, no! I’m so happy you’re letting me watch today, I don’t mind standing somewhere safe.”

To prove his point he ran over and jumped onto the mat - though the one inch of extra height it offered above the floor didn’t warrant such an exaggerated motion. Still, it was worth it to see the worry clear off of Secundus’ face and the parallel-in-training threw back his head to laugh.

“Well! With an attitude like that, I guess there isn’t much point in waiting any more! Just remember, stay on the mat. No matter what, okay?”

Tag nodded energetically, and Secundus laughed again. Without another word, the older boy turned to face the copper lightning rod and raised both his hands in front of him. Cyan sparks flickered between his fingers, and the stench of ozone filled the air as all the hairs on Tag’s head stood on end. He giggled at the feeling, and Secundus glanced at him inquiringly - and did a double take at whatever he saw, fear in his eyes.

**_“No-!”_ **

Tag blinked, Secundus’ terrified face swimming into view not four inches from his own.

“I’m thirsty,” he said, and Secundus burst into tears.

Tag only had a dazed moment to think _I can’t drink that_ before the door behind Secundus burst open and Toman sprinted inside, followed by a worried-looking Accalia and Blayze. He looked weird like Secundus looked weird, swimming in and out of focus in front of Tag even as the older man rushed over and pulled Secundus off of him. Blayze grabbed the sobbing boy and pulled him in close, patting his back awkwardly as Secundus soaked his tunic shoulder with tears.

Tag blinked. That, that wasn’t right, Secundus shouldn’t be crying, he’d only been- he was only going to-

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Toman demanded, blocking Tag’s view of Secundus with his hand.

Tag squinted. “Three. No, four. Two? Stop putting them up and down,” he complained, and watched Toman’s face darken with worry.

“Go tell the infirmary to prep for serious electrocution,” he said, half-turning to address Accalia, and the girl paled and gulped before vanishing out the door. Toman turned back to Tag and put a gentle hand under his shoulders.

“I’m going to pick you up, and I’m going to take you to the infirmary, okay?” he said seriously, looking Tag straight in the eye.

Tag nodded. “Okay.” Then a thought occurred to him. “Don’t be mad at Secundus, okay? He was just going to show me how they make music on the Lightning planet, it’s not his fault, I begged him to show me.”

Toman shook his head. “He should have known better - rules are in place for a _reason_.” He held up a hand to forestall Tag as the boy opened his mouth to retort. “We can discuss Secundus later. Right now, you need to get to the infirmary. I’m going to lift you on the count of three. One, two-”

Tag passed out.


	2. Aftershocks

When Tag woke up, he was lying on something soft and supportive with exactly zero memory of how he’d gotten there - the last thing he remembered was…was…

“Oh good, you’re awake.”

Tag looked up to see Toman walking towards him down the line of soft, white-linen-covered beds that constituted the infirmary of the monastery. He had a cup in each hand - one that steamed gently and one that didn’t. Upon reaching Tag’s bed, Toman reached down slowly and held out the cup that didn’t steam. Tag had to grip it with both hands - his muscles felt like jello - but an exploratory sip revealed it to contain cool well-water and he drink greedily until Toman reached over to stop him.

“Woah easy here, you’ll make yourself sick if you gulp it down like that. Small sips,” he cautioned as he guided the cup away from Tag’s lips. Tag sighed but nodded. The water he’d managed to get so far had sent pleasant tendrils of coolness through his chest, and while he still felt like he could drink a whole bucket of water he no longer felt inclined to try and drink the whole well. He licked his lips anyway, chasing any remaining droplets, and Toman shook his head with a huff of exasperated laughter before sobering again.

“Tag, I need to know what you remember,” he said in that too-calm way that Tag knew from past experience meant that he about to be in trouble.

He looked down and rubbed his forefinger along the line of scar that traced a path down the side of his thumb - Stephano had tried to break him of the habit many times, but Toman didn’t care. “I was in the Lightning practice room,” he said slowly, trying to stave off the inevitable scolding for as long as possible. “Secundus was there too; I’d forced him to promise me he’d show me something he saw in the vids from Lightning where they’d figured out how to make music from magic. He was going to play ‘The Planets Shine in the Continuum’s Light,’ I think, which I know is a kid’s song but we have to start somewhere, right?”

Toman’s expression didn’t change. “And then?”

Tag felt his heart speed up a little - or try to, anyway. It definitely skipped a beat in a way that didn’t exactly feel healthy, but he didn’t mention it as he continued. “And so we were in the practice room and I was on the safety mat, and…and..” Flashes of memory played in his mind - Secundus’ terrified face, the salty drip of tears, Toman cradling him against his chest, the hallways leading to the infirmary - but nothing concrete, nothing that made words come out of his mouth so Tag fell silent with a frustrated huff.

Toman nodded slowly and sat on the low stool that had been sitting next to the bed out of Tag’s line of sight before sighing deeply. “Secundus’ story matches up with yours, except that he insists it was all _his_ idea and that you’d been punished enough already.”

Tag opened his mouth to object - it had been his idea, not Secundus’, and it _wasn’t_ Secundus’ fault - but Toman held up a hand. “As it happens, I feel like you are _both_ to blame for what happened. Granted, what happened was merely an accident; Secundus assures me that as far as he knew, he’d laid down the necessary pathing to put the Lightning into the rod and has no idea why it got diverted to you. Nobody intends for accidents to happen, which is why they are _accidents_ and not anything else, and so I do not blame either of you for what actually happened. However,” he continued, with a stern look that made Tag want to sink into the floor and disappear forever, “that does not absolve either of you of the responsibility for the actions you took leading up to that accident. Rules are in place precisely to _prevent_ accidents like this, and it was breaking those rules that allowed this accident to happen.”

He sighed and rubbed his forehead with his free hand, the other still occupied by the cup that was now no longer noticeably steaming. “I’m suspending all of Secundus’ outings for the next three months, and he’ll spend that same period scrubbing the refectory every night after supper. As for _you_ ,” he said, looking directly at Tag and making him squirm, “your library privileges are suspended for three months, and you’ll be washing dishes with the cooks after supper as well. People who don’t have the elements the training rooms are designed for aren’t allowed in them for a _reason_ , Tag, and it’s not just you. The only reason we have extra safeguards is for testing days when an impartial judge is required and only people of the incorrect element are available.”

Tag hung his head as best he could, given that he was still mostly lying down. It ended up being more of a sulky head tilt than anything, but it was the best he could do without actually sliding to the floor and Toman seemed to sense that. Reaching over, he patted Tag’s shoulder with his free hand. “If it’s any consolation, Secundus is waiting outside to speak with you.”

The thought filled Tag with a sinking kind of dread - would the older boy yell at him for getting him into trouble? - but he put on a brave face and Toman ruffled his hair. “Chin up, Tag. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Drink this before I let him in, though,” he said, and held out the cup that he still had in one hand.

Tag took it in both of his and drank deeply - only just avoiding spitting the tepid, bitter liquid inside out all over his bed. He gulped the first mouthful of the nasty tea and looked at Toman, hoping against hope that that would be enough but the Old Guard simply gestured at him to drink up. Screwing his face up, Tag drank the rest down in two more big gulps and panted heavily afterwards in the vague hope that the air moving over his tongue would somehow diminish the bitter flavor.

Toman laughed and handed him the water cup, and patted him on the head before standing. He glanced down at the prone Tag, and his face softened. “Remember, Tag, I’m not angry you got hurt - that’s life. I’m disappointed you made choices that lead you to getting hurt unnecessarily. Try to be more careful next time, okay?”

Tag could only nod mutely, and Toman nodded back before walking away down the row of otherwise unoccupied beds. Tag sipped at the water to try and wash the awful, awful flavor of the bitter tea out of his mouth, but before he’d really succeeded Secundus was rushing down between the rows of beds.

“Tag! Thank the Continuum you’re all right!” Secundus skidded to a stop next to his bed, narrowly avoiding ramming it with his knees, and Tag looked up at him owl-eyed.

“Why wouldn’t I be alright? You’re good with the Lightning, and you didn’t mean to hurt me,” Tag said reasonably, and Secundus laughed a little wetly.

“That’s you all over Tag, always looking on the bright side.” Secundus slumped onto the stool so recently abandoned by Toman and hung his head. “I’m sorry, Tag, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. You were just, just so _excited_ to see the music, and it doesn’t take much power and I thought it’d be safe to show you but -” he paused to suck in a deep, thick breath, “ - but there was too much power, more than I meant, and - and - and you could have _died_ , Tag,” Secundus said miserably, sounding very small, and Tag blinked.

Too much power? He could have died? He blinked and swallowed, suddenly feeling pretty unsteady himself. “Wh- what do you mean by 'too much power?’” he asked, fear making his throat tight and a miserable little noise pushed itself out of Secundus’ throat as tears began rolling down his face.

“The music doesn’t t-take much, b-but when the p-pathway switched to you it, it, it _pulled_ all the power I had ready, for the whole song. You t-took nearly thirty th-thousand volts, Tag. I thought-t-t you were _dead_ , like, like,” words failed him as he began to cry in earnest, and Tag felt sympathetic tears well up in his own eyes.

Everyone knew Secundus’ story. He used to help with the two cows the monastery kept for their milk - mucking out their stalls, bringing them hay and oats, walking them to and from pasture. He hadn’t needed to do it - he was here to learn to be a parallel, after all, not like Tag - but he’d wanted to and nobody had objected. He had loved those cows - Bessie and Spots - and they had loved him right back.

Right up until the storm blew in.

The lightning strike had been enough to wake up Secundus’ then-dormant lightning powers, and he’d been so overjoyed with his newfound power that he hadn’t realized it had also charged him up. He’d gone to hug Bessie and Spots…

A tear slid down Tag’s cheek as he reached over and laid a hand on Secundus’ arm. “Hey,” he said gently, and Secundus looked at him with a tear-stained face. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know that would happen. Toman said accidents are just things that happen, and I agree with him. It’s not your fault I got hit - if anything, it’s mine for insisting on you showing me.”

Secundus shook his head vigorously, but seemed too choked up to speak. Tag thought for a moment before he squeezed Secundus’ arm again. “Okay, well, if it helps we’re both in trouble with Toman, so maybe we’re equally at fault? And we know enough not to do it again?”

Secundus laughed a laugh that was only a little better than a sob and reached over to squeeze Tag’s arm back.

“Yeah. Okay. Deal.”


End file.
